When it comes to potatoes there’s no wrong way to enjoy them. Just boiled with salt and pepper and butter is wonderful sometimes. But, other times you might want to have a really special potato dish and these fondant potatoes fit that bill perfectly. This French method of cooking them results in tender taters seasoned to perfection after having cooked in a mixture of butter and stock. In fact, the word “fondant” means melting in French.

And, these potatoes literally melt in your mouth when you bite into them. But, they also have the subtle flavor of thyme and a bit of garlic that infuses into the starchy flesh during cooking. The first step is to brown them on the stovetop in very hot oil, then add stock to them to boil on the burner for a minute.

Then you bake them and that stock with thyme in it really absorbs into the spuds. The recipe calls for beef stock, but I’ve tried this with chicken and vegetable stock as well and each time it turns out wonderful. The only thing is that with beef stock you get a meatier flavor which pairs nicely with beef as the main dish. But, if you only have another type of stock on hand it will still be utterly delicious.

Since these potatoes spend time on the stovetop and in the oven you’ll need to pick a larger, oven-safe pan to cook them in so you don’t have to change pans halfway through cooking. We love a one-pan solution for easy clean up.

As much as I love potatoes I didn’t have super high expectations for this dish. I thought they’d probably be tasty, but I had no idea just how flavorful and delicious they’d turn out. And, the texture becomes so delicate- there’s really nothing else quite like these fondant potatoes!